Around the corner

Teenyboppers discussing Britney Spears’s latest hairstyle shared elbow space here with corporate companions closing a casual deal. But they’ll have to find a new spot temporarily because the place in question, Bandra’s iconic eatery Just Around The Corner, has downed its shutters for a make-over.

It’s natural!Though this will be its first overhaul since the restaurant opened 1998, management insists it’s a natural step in the life cycle of any eating joint. “It will come back in a new avatar after being renovated, that’s our commitment to the people of Mumbai,” insists Snehal Kulshreshtha, director of operations, Mars Enterprises which owns the property. He adds, “We plan to be back in action by the first week of February. We have settled on a new name but you’ll just have to wait and watch to see what it’ll be.”

If the salad bar and soups were what attracted you the most, don’t worry. Kulshreshtha reassures regulars that all the best-loved dishes would retain their place on the new menu. “There will be more options to choose from, but we have identified the heroes on the menu and we won’t be fazing them out.” Kulshreshtha does admit that while prices will be a little steeper once the place reopens, customers can hope for value for money. “We will also maintain our outdoor seating as that added to the comfortable feel that the place exuded,” Kulshreshtha says. “We want to give people a refreshed look without changing what our patrons loved the most.”

Negative feedbackWhile they are prepared for negative feedback, given that customers might not take too easily to the new concept, he is confident that the loyalists will remain: “We are prepared for negative feedback because people are resistant to change. But we hope they realise that we need to adapt to the changing times.”

Despite the restaurant’s popularity, there are no plans to open an outlet anywhere else in the city either. Kulshreshtha reveals, “We have decided against taking out franchises for Just Around The Corner or the new property. We are not focused on the business of restaurants, but this is an iconic place and so, we will maintain it.”